Library and History events this October

Wednesday, 26 September 2018

Discover The Land Before Avocado: Journeys in a lost Australia by Richard Glover, Kim Hodges shares her struggles with mental illness in Girl Over the Edge, get started with non-fiction writing with David Lewis, and our Hello Holidays program delivers plenty of fun, free activities for the kids these school holidays.

Girl Over the Edge: A memoir by Kim Hodges

Kim Hodges talks about her second memoir which is entirely about her lived experience of mental illness. Her book openly and honestly details her struggles with bipolar disorder and depression over the past five years and challenges some of the beliefs and stigma around mental illness.

Keeping our older industrial, commercial and institutional buildings and adapting them for residential use allows us to retain much-loved local character whilst providing alternative, and sometimes innovative, ways to live. Architect Richard Healey-Finlay will discuss his recently completed Edith Street apartments project in St Peters. Geoff Bonus, director of Bonus + Associates, will speak about his projects The Grace and Venables, both in Camperdown.

Local author Robyn Williams, host of The Science Show on ABC Radio, presents his latest book Turmoil, a searingly honest and often blackly funny reflection on his life, friends, the people he loves and loathes, and a multi-faceted career that includes over forty years on radio.

Monday, 8 October, 6:30-7:30pm

Balmain Town Hall

Free. Bookings: or call 9392 5938.

The Getting of Garlic by John Newton

Before garlic we had meat and potatoes – after garlic what we ate got much more interesting. But has a national cuisine emerged? What is Australian food culture? Food writer John Newton’s observations and recipes, old and new, show what has changed and what hasn’t.

The Land Before Avocado: Journeys in a lost Australia by Richard Glover

Richard Glover, local author and host of ABC Radio Sydney, takes a journey to an almost unrecognisable Australia. It’s a vivid portrait of a quite peculiar land – a place that is scary and weird, dangerous and incomprehensible. It’s the Australia of his childhood. The Australia of the late 1960s and early 1970s – let’s break the news now: they didn’t have avocado.

From science weather experiments, creating a nature inspired mobile, becoming a library detective or watching an afternoon film screening – there are lots of fun and free activities at the library during the October school holidays.